Swim Safety in Autistic Children: OT CEU Course with Erika Kemp

If you have not been paying attention to recent statistics on drowning, you need to be. After decades of decline, deaths by drowning are on the rise. Groups already at higher risk have seen the greatest increases in drowning deaths. This includes adults ages 65 years and older of all races and ethnicities, as well as Black people of all ages.
But today, we’ll focus on an especially high-risk group: children (and particularly, children with autism). Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, and children with autism spectrum disorder are 160 times more likely to experience nonfatal and fatal drowning than their typically developing peers. Whatever setting you work in, I hope these sobering numbers convince you to pay close attention to water safety. Here, we’ll look at an aquatic OT swim safety program that you could consider implementing in your community.
In our conversation today, we welcome the article’s lead author, Erika Kemp, for a discussion on the logistics of launching a swim safety program. We’ll also tackle big picture questions-like how to go about mobilizing the entire OT community to prevent drownings in our communities.
Learn more about our guest Erika Kemp, OTD, OTR/L, BCP, FAOTA: otpotential.com/occupational-...
Join the OT Potential Club to take a quiz to earn your 1 hour occupational therapy continuing education unit (AOTA-approved): otpotential.com/ot-potential-...
Website and Social:
Episode page: otpotential.com/ceu-podcast-c...
Podcast page: otpotential.com
Linked In: / otpotential
Episode article:
Addressing swim safety in autistic children: A pilot feasibility study using aquatic occupational therapy. scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ijare/v...
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:00 Swim Safety and Autism Intro
00:03:52 The Role of OT in Swim Instruction
00:04:27 What was the intent of this paper?
00:04:53 What were their methods?
00:07:21 What were their results
00:08:17 Article discussion and conclusion
00:09:45 Intro to Erika Kemp
00:11:49 How Erika became interested in swim safety
00:16:35 How the OT swim program came to be
00:22:32 Article impressions
00:26:07 How can we educate about water safety without fear mongering?
00:31:01 How is a good fit for this program?
00:34:30 What steps would I need to take to start an OT swim program?
00:40:28 How could this fit in the outpatient setting or a non-profit?
00:48:05 How to promote swim safety for children under 4?